Flexible flat cable comprises, an electrical cable constructed of slender, electrical conductor traces on broad surfaces of a thin and flexible sheet of dielectric material. The conductor traces are manufactured by a process of metal plating to apply plated metal to the flexible sheet, followed by chemical etching of the plated metal to produce the final shapes of the slender conductor traces. Alternatively, the circuit traces can be fabricated by a selective metal plating process that applies plated metal only where the slender circuit traces are desired. The selective metal plating process will eliminate the need to chemical etch the plated metal. This type of cable provides numerous conductor traces in a small space, and is useful to provide numerous parallel conductor traces connected to high density electronic circuits in an electronic device. The flat cable emanates from the electronic device, and is useful to connect the electronic device to larger electrical cables of electrical equipment.
Multiple flat cables are used for connection to numerous electronic circuits, for example, the electronic circuits in a medical diagnostic transducer. The multiple flat cables are attached at their one ends to the transducer. The flat cables emanate from the transducer in a compact stack, one on another. The edges of the flat cables can be spread out from one another in the stack for connection of them to larger coaxial type, electrical cables that are associated with medical diagnostic equipment. An electrical connector is desired for the coaxial cables that will disconnect from respective flat cables to permit replacement of a defective transducer, and to permit interchange among transducers of different types. Such an electrical connector would be narrow to match the thin and flat configurations of the flat cables, to fit compactly within the stack of multiple flat cables, and to permit close together stacking of multiple connectors within the stack of flat cables. Such a connector is capable of disconnecting from a flat cable, which allows the flat cable to be replaced or interchanged with other flat cables.
A flexible, double sided, flat cable will have circuit traces on both sides. An electrical connector is desired that will connect and disconnect coaxial cables to the circuit traces on both sides of a double sided, flat cable.